Scientists' new 'biological BMI' could give a more precise picture of metabolic health

RESEARCHES in the US have developed a new version of the Body Mass Index (BMI) measurement system, called the 'biological BMI.' This index claims to provide a more precise picture of a person's metabolic health by taking into account additional data.

For decades, health professionals have relied on BMI to assess a person's weight and classify them accordingly. It is calculated by dividing a person’s weight in kilograms by height in meters, squared.

The result is used to classify individuals into several categories, ranging from underweight to morbidly obese.

This index has become a standard and is used to evaluate potential health risks related to a person's weight, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

But BMI may be too simplistic, according to researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in Seattle. According to them, 30% of the population could be misclassified by this approach.

This is why they propose a new BMI, the so-called biological BMI, taking into account more varied measurements and promising to provide a more precise representation of a person's health.

To conduct their research, published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers focused on 1,000 adults enrolled in wellness programs.

They studied more than 1,100 blood analytes, such as proteins and metabolites, as well as genetic risk scores and the composition of gut microbiota collected at different times.

Then, using machine learning models, the researchers generated more accurate predictive variations of a biological BMI than traditional measures of BMI alone.

"We now have the capability to use advanced molecular measurements as a more comprehensive representation of a person’s metabolic health, which can be used to make more accurate clinical recommendations for individuals," said Noa Rappaport, PhD, ISB senior research scientist and corresponding author of the paper.

The team found several important things. First, people with a high biological BMI and a normal traditional BMI were found to be less healthy.

Nevertheless, they were able to lose weight more easily when making changes to their diet and lifestyle. On the other hand, people classed as obese with a traditional BMI, but with a normal biological BMI were found to be more biologically healthy.

However, they had greater difficulty losing weight. Another finding notes that when participants made the right lifestyle changes, their biological BMI decreased more rapidly than their traditional BMI.

"This work is a valuable asset for comprehending the molecular changes associated with obesity and metabolic health, and it has the potential to significantly improve the development of predictive and preventive clinical approaches for treating metabolic disturbances," said Kengo Watanabe, PhD, lead author of the study and K. Carole Ellison Fellow in Bioinformatics, quoted in a news release.